What a great idea!

Dang that picture is low quality. When was this taken, 2009?

Something like this appeared near the Miramax offices in LA, where if you showed it your bare feet it gave you a milkshake. It remains a mystery who put it there.

In the USA, the machine would be accompanied by a paramedic team and several vultures (lawyers) circling above. In case of a heart attack.

These types of efforts might save money on health care costs long term

Wondered if this was actually real since I saw the post and realized what community it was posted under, haha:

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/bus-ticket-20-squats/

Mostly true

In Cluj-Napoca, Romania, a so-called "health ticket" was introduced that allowed individuals to use public transportation for free by completing 20 squats. However, the organizers only implemented it in one city for a limited time. As of this writing, it's unknown if the program will resume at a future date.

It's too bad it was only kind of a social experiment vs a real government-sponsored health campaign that was still ongoing. I think it's a pretty great idea. However, I can also see it getting some negative backlash if the government funded it since those with certain disabilities wouldn't be able to utilize it. I think it'd be easy enough to incorporate a variety of healthy exercises that are more accessible to get around that aspect, though.

And it's all paid for by one pervert who sits across from the machine.

"Hey gurl, you must take public transit."

Back in 2006/7 I worked at the agency on record for a lot of huge brands and we had just gotten Pepsi. So the CD asked my department (interactive) if we could come up with something unique before we had the big kickoff with their staff. I don't know which one of us came up with the idea but a we decided to make a soda machine that would give you a free Pepsi if you hugged it. Got a machine and went to work engineering it, installing a screen so it can display graphics and a message. They loved it. We ended up redesigning a machine from scratch that could sense hugs or just a smile and made a commercial from it. That was back when designers were given fun tasks to be as creative as possible.

Doing their bit to preserve Slavic traditions.

(Yes, I know Romania is not Slavic, though they share the region’s squatting-in-tracksuits culture to an extent.)

That's... kinda clever

That's ridiculous! They should hook it up to an exercise cycle and generate electricity off of it instead.

One of the biggest strains on a government is the health of its citizens. Decreasing obesity and other risk factors through physical activity will save them quite a bit more than a bus fare.

Squat machine the judge, squat machine the jury.

Whenever I see this I think "wow, cool idea, wish we had something like this in the US." And then I think "it's just asking for a discrimination lawsuit so unlikely." And then I think "well we should be making public transit free for everyone anyway." And then I think "until we get our housing affordability and mental health crises resolved, free transit proposals just becomes a fear magnet ("roving homeless shelters!!!" "crime train!!!"). And then I get sad.

Disability protections are generally a great thing, and the US is significantly more accessible than many countries for them, but I've watched a lot of cool, creative ideas get torpedoed because of them. Instead we're stuck with car dominance because "everyone can drive, not everyone can walk/bike/take the bus" (inb4 "wtf that's not remotely true" ... I know, but car brain doesn't).